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any option at all to specifically set that price or lock it
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You can allways make a limitorder, but the price you are talking about is set by the market not the exchange. It would not be "fair" for everyone else to wait until you got your stuff in order, would it? If you are "late" you are, live with it, there is no turning back
2. I keep hearing/reading about people having many wallets. The wallet part is really confusing me. I thought we would have one wallet with many "addresses" for respective transactions, and one private key to the wallet. Is this correct or no? If not, what is the actual way it works?
Yes each wallet can have several public adresses. But most people dont want a single privatkey protect all their money, so they make seval wallets. Some on paper, some on brains, some on USB sticks, some on the internet, some on OLD offline PCs, etc. This way a hacker is unlikely to get all your money
3. What is an order book and what would I need it for?
The orderbook of an exchange gives you an overview of the prices people want to buy / sell for.
E.g. (this is from bitstamp, since I trade there, but it will be similar to your exchange)
price amount value
$435.83 0.18000000 $78.45
$435.35 0.16200000 $70.53
$435.22 0.09000000 $39.17
So these 3 want to sell .18, .162 and .09 BTC respectivly for $435.83, $435.35 and $435.22. There is also a section where people want to buy. They are usually called bids and asks. If you just want to buy your bitcoins at the current price you dont have to care about this.
4. Am I correct in that I am the one who needs to figure out both my public and private key/password and send it to the wallet or is the wallet the public address and the password? Or is the wallet more like the "account" and the password to the "account" is separate from the public/private keys specific to a transaction? In any case, where or how do I get the keys? Are they automatically assigned by the wallet or the site where the wallet account is? (My brain just exploded here...I mean seriously, wtf?!)
A wallet is something you generate on your PC or somewhere else, it will make a pair of keys for you. Those keys will be stored in your wallet with other information. Think of it as a container that contains the keys to your money. You need a password because your wallet is encrypted.
5. Do I need a new wallet for every transaction?
No, you might want to make a new public key for each transaction, but you dont need to.
6. If I buy x# of bitcoins and they're in the wallet (or wallets?), and the site I signed up with is holding them (?) is that risky? How long should I leave them or when should I remove them...and what manner should they be removed? Is that delete them from the list on the site or - I have no idea and this part makes me nervous because if I do the wrong thing my money is lost with no way to recover. I seriously need a walk through.
Yes it is risky, because that site might get hacked or go elsewhere with your money. You should transfer them to your own wallet as soon as you can. That would usually be called "withdrawal" option bitcoin. Put on of your public adresses there, and wait for your money to arrive (might take a minute or more depding on your exchange and the network)
7. If there's stuff I have to download, what is it and how do I set it up - and what's it for?
Again, you dont have to, but you should use a client on your own computer that only you can control.
8. What is the reason we're supposed to disconnect from the internet before copying/pasting our info in the wallet or the site that issues a wallet?
That sounds like a site that creates a paperwallet. Start with a regular one its easier. If you make a paperwallet your key will not be encrypted for a while, so you might not want to blast that information into the internet, thats why it is recommened to make a paperwallet offline.
9. What is a paper wallet, brainwallet, three stage? wallet and if those are better, how do I go about making or getting them?
Paperwallet = private key on a piece of paper
Brainwallet = private key in your brain or a seed that will generate a private key in your brain
Three stage what?
They are "better" in a way. That is if you know what you do, they offer more security. If you dont know what you do, you can more easily loose your money. Start with a regular wallet unless you want to buy >10 BTC.
10. I totally get it about the private key being a physical copy secured offline by me - what I am lost on is the process and procedure for getting from "no account anywhere" to "buying/saving" to "heh, now I have bitcoins yay!" and not be wrought with paranoia I did it wrong, left it exposed and poof...all gone.
Your private key is not physical, its data that can be stored physical (e.g. on paper), but must not (e.g. in your brain). I dont know what you want to say with the rest.
11. Escrow??
3 People, 1 is the "buyer" 1 is the "seller" 1 is a trusted member of the community. Buyer and seller dont trust eachother so the buyer sends the money to the trusted member and waits for his goods. After he received them the trusted member sends the money to the seller. Sometimes there are fees. Sometimes there are not. If you plan on doing bussiness with BTC, consider using escrow unless the amount is so little that you dont care.
12. The procedure for sending bitcoin to someone (and/or myself if it's the same) and collecting it if someone sends it to me.
You get the adress, copy it, past it in your programm/webpage that controlls your wallet, set the amount you want to send.
"collecting" is done automatically as long as your client is in synch with the network.
13. Are these keys supposed to be QR codes or is that just another security measure by the owner? If we are, please explain how to go about it.
No, it is just another form to store the information.
14. The places I can open accounts, the best or most secure/easiest ones where I won't get ripped off the second I type something, can you use more than one or is one okay? Or should I use more than one?
Accounts for what?
15. the "client" and waiting for the whole blockchain to load - whaaaa?
Yes, QT needs to download the wholeblockchain. Its a good think if plenty users do that. If you dont care, look for "slim clients"
16. what is bitstamp and should I use it and if so what for?
Bitstamp is an exchange, you can is it for buying/selling, but you can also buy locally or via the forum etc.
17. what happens when you cash out, the process and timeframe?
Cashout? Sell all your BTC, transfer fiat to your bank account?
18. I do but just curious, if someone doesn't have a bank, how could they get fiat into and out of an exchange?
Meet with someone selling BTC in person, pay cash, receive BTC, send BTC to exchange.
19. If I'm at a store that accepts bitcoin, how would I pay them?
They will usually give you an unique (as in this is only for you) public adress, that you send your money to.
20. ...saving it for something else that'll no doubt come to mind soon as I hit send...
Before you say it - I HAVE searched, I HAVE read, and I HAVE been all over the forums but these questions, while they've been explained in various places, have only confused the crap out of me instead of making it easier. I need clarification, preferably before the price goes up to $1000 again. Seriously.
Thanks!!
Protip: you might get answers faster if you ask one question at a time
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.I would purchase bitcoin as much as possible and retire young.
